Marine science, resource conservation, community resilience – and a whole lot of gorgeous Oregon coastal scenery: Check out this new compilation by Communications Director Joe Cone of excerpts from some of the many films and videos produced by Oregon Sea Grant since our program’s start in 1971:
Author Archives: kightp
Oyster die-offs – a new culprit?
Oysters at Whiskey Creek hatchery
For years, research into West Coast oyster hatchery die-offs has pointed the finger at Vibrio tubiashii. Now Oregon State University researchers believe a different, but related, bacterium – V. coralliilyticus – may be the real culprit.
The findings were published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, by researchers from OSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Rutgers University. The research was supported by the USDA.
“These bacteria are very similar, they’re close cousins,” said Claudia Häse, an OSU associate professor and expert in microbial pathogenesis. “V. coralliilyticus was believed to primarily infect warm water corals and contributes to coral bleaching around the world. It shares some gene sequences with V. tubiashii, but when we finally were able to compare the entire genomes, it became apparent that most of what we’re dealing with in the Pacific Northwest is V. coralliilyticus.”
Scientists now say that V. coralliilyticus is not only far more widespread than previously believed, but that it can infect a variety of fish, shellfish and oysters, including rainbow trout and larval brine shrimp. And it appears to be the primary offender in bacterial attacks on Pacific Northwest oyster larvae.
Häse’s previous work with Chris Langdon of OSU’s Molluscan Broodstock Lab has been supported in part by Oregon Sea Grant, which has also worked with Northwest shellfish growers to help them rebound from oyster die-offs. By learning to counter the effects of increasingly acidic seawater, which prevents larval oysters from forming the shells they need to survive, many hatcheries have seen production return.
But while hatchery stocks are recovering, the scientists say bacterial infections remain a real problem for oysters – and other organisms – in the wild.
“Although we’ve largely addressed the problems the hatcheries face, these bacteria continue to pose threats to wild oysters,” Häse said. “And corals are still declining in many places, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is dying at an alarming rate. Better diagnostics might help in all of these situations.”
Learn more
- Read the full news release from OSU News & Research Communication
- Confluence, summer 2013: How Oregon Sea Grant research and extension helped Oregon hatcheries recover from near collapse (.pdf)
Waldport High students help NOAA track ocean currents
R/V Oceanus crew launches Waldport High’s drifter (photo by Jeff Crews)
WALDPORT – Students at Waldport High School are excited about today’s successful launch of their unmanned sailboat, Phyxius, near the Equator by OSU’s R/V Oceanus, as part of a long-term national project to better understand ocean currents and transport patterns.
The project, organized by Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon Coast STEM Hub, is part of NOAA’s Educational Passages program, which enlists science, technology, engineering and math classes to build the miniature vessels and set them loose in ocean and coastal waters – and follow them via a NOAA tracking site to see where they go. More than 40 of the drifters have been launched since the program began in 2008.
The unmanned mini-sailboats are self-steering and equipped with GPS tracking devices to study ocean and wind patterns and much more. The five-foot vessels sail directly downwind month after month. As these boats travel the oceans, students can track them via http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/drifter/ and learn and improve their skills in map reading, geography, earth science, oceanography and more.
Waldport’s is just the third drifter to be launched in the Pacific. Most of the others have been launched into the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico. Drifters have landed in Europe, the Caribbean, Cuba, Bahamas, Panama, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia as well as many other places. Some have left Portugal and closely duplicated Columbus’s route to the new world, and another spent time on display in an Irish pub.
Join us for Sea Grant Scholars Day, Nov. 13
Join us for the 2014 Oregon Sea Grant Scholars Day 
Symposium on Thursday, November 13, 2014 from 1:30 pm to 5 pm in the Joyce Powell Leadership Center Journey Room in the OSU Memorial Union!
Several of our student fellows and other scholars will be making presentations or presenting posters about their Sea Grant-related work. This gives students the opportunity to gain valuable experience presenting their research and experiences to a public audience and receive feedback on their work and presentation skills.
Contest enlists students, teachers to stop invasives
Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon Invasive Species Council are enlisting high school students and teachers across Oregon in a multimedia art contest, “Don’t Let It Loose,” urging classrooms to avoid releasing school pets and lab animals into the wild.
Winning student artists and their teachers will receive prizes of up to $400 in each of two categories: static images, and moving media including videos, animations and motion graphics. In particular, organizers are encouraging entries that can be translated into mobile apps and other new technology.
Entries will be judged on how well they convey the “Don’t Let It Loose” message, their visual effectiveness (is the message memorable? Does it compel action?), universal appeal (is the message clear to everyone, regardless of age, language or education level?) and originality.
The contest ties in with an ongoing educational campaign created by Sea Grant’s Watershed and Invasive Species Education (WISE) program, which works to bring invasive species education into the classroom via teacher training, lesson plans and classroom activity guides. The program focuses in part on the perils of turning non-native classroom animals loose in the environment, where they can out-compete native species and become major pests. The program got a boost last year from Oregon cartoonist Jan Eliot, whose popular syndicated cartoon “Stone Soup” featured a storyline about the issue, and who permitted Sea Grant to use her cartoon image in its education campaigns.
For details about the contest, which has a March 15, 2015 deadline, visit the OISC Website.
State of the Coast conference coming Oct. 25
Students in the marine sciences and related fields have until Oct. 10 to submit posters for the 2014 State of the Coast conference, taking place Oct. 25 at the Florence Events Center in Florence, on the southern Oregon coast.
State of the Coast – formerly known as the Heceta Head Coastal Conference – invites everyone from scientists to students to industry to citizens to learn, network, and engage in the current and future state of Oregon’s marine environment. The one day conference, organized by Oregon Sea Grant, includes informative talks on current marine science and policy: El Niño, Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, Coastal Energy, Local Food on the Coast, Hazards, and more.
Join us for seafood cooking demos, hands-on learning, and fun.
The student poster session is a dedicated time when conference participants can view posters and interact with student scientists as they explain their marine-related research and results. This is a chance for students to showcase their research, gain professional experience, and network.
Oregon Sea Grant invites posters from advanced undergraduates (juniors or seniors), recent graduates and graduate students. Poster submissions are welcomed in any discipline related to issues and opportunities facing the marine environment: biology, anthropology, law, engineering, policy, chemistry, business, ecology, environmental science, management, and more!
Posters will be judged by conference participants on their effectiveness in communicating research, accessibility of the information presented, and overall design for reaching a general and diverse audience. Prizes will be awarded to the top posters.
For more information on poster submissions: http://www.stateofthecoast.com/student-posters/
Registration is $35, $25 for students and includes lunch. For more information and registration visit http://www.stateofthecoast.com/
Floating transponders track tsunami debris path
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Northwest anglers venturing out into the Pacific Ocean in pursuit of salmon and other fish this fall may scoop up something unusual into their nets – instruments known as transponders, released from Japan to track the movement of marine debris in ocean currents.
About the size of a 2-liter soda bottle, the instruments were intentionally set adrift from different ports off Japan in 2011-12 after the massive Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Researchers from Tattori University for Environmental Studies in Japan have been collaborating with Oregon State University, Oregon Sea Grant, and the NOAA Marine Debris Program on the project http://www.kankyo-u.ac.jp/research/sri/field/002/results/trackinginfo.
Their goal is to track the movement of debris via ocean currents and help determine the path and timing of the debris from the 2011 disaster. An estimated 1.5 million tons of debris was washed out to sea and it is expected to continue drifting ashore along the West Coast of the United States for several years, according to Sam Chan, a watershed health specialist with Oregon State University Extension and Oregon Sea Grant who has been working with the Japanese and NOAA on marine debris research and outreach since the 2011 earthquake.
“These transponders only have a battery life of about 30 months and then they no longer communicate their location,” Chan said. “So the only way to find out where they end up is to physically find them and report their location. That’s why we need the help of fishermen, beachcombers and other coastal visitors.
“These bottles contain transmitters and they are not a hazardous device,” Chan added. “If you find something that looks like an orange soda bottle with a short antenna, we’d certainly like your help in turning it in.”
Persons who find a transponder are asked to photograph it if possible, and report the location of their find to Chan at Samuel.Chan@oregonstate.edu; or to the NOAA Marine Debris Program regional coordinator in their area at http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/contact-us. They will provide shipping instructions to persons who find the transponders so that the instruments can be returned to the research team.
Learn more
- Read the news release from OSU News and Research Information
- Learn more about Oregon Sea Grant’s marine debris work
Pet owners, veterinary care professionals sought for national study
Scientists have long been aware of the potential environment impacts from using and disposing of the array of products we use to keep ourselves healthy, clean and smelling nice.
Now a new concern is emerging – improper disposal of pet care products and pills.
Dog shampoos, heartworm medicine, flea and tick sprays, and a plethora of prescription and over-the-counter medicines increasingly are finding their way into landfills and waterways, where they can threaten the health of local watersheds. An estimated 68 percent of American households have at least one pet, illustrating the potential scope of the problem.
How bad is that problem? No one really knows, according to Sam Chan, Oregon Sea Grant’s watershed health expert.
But Chan and his colleagues aim to find out. They are launching a national online survey of both pet owners and veterinary care professionals to determine how aware that educated pet owners are of the issue, what is being communicated, and how they dispose of “pharmaceutical and personal care products” (PPCPs) for both themselves and their pets. Pet owners are encouraged to participate in the survey, which will run through Dec. 15. 2014.
“You can count on one hand the number of studies that have been done on what people actively do with the disposal of these products,” Chan said. “PPCPs are used by almost everyone and most wastewater treatment plants are not able to completely deactivate many of the compounds they include.” …
Learn more
- Read the entire news release from OSU News and Research Information
- Take the survey: http://tinyurl.com/PetWellbeingandEnvironment
COASTALearning Symposium Oct. 9-10
NEWPORT – Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon Coast STEM Hub are partnering with the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Lincoln County School District to run the annual COASTALearning Symposium in Newport on October 9 and 10.
This professional development event is expected to reach 350 teachers and administrators on the Oregon Coast and focuses on using marine science and coastal natural resources as a context for learning across grades and subjects. Breakout sessions include topics such as Marine Debris, Fish Habitat and Passage, Ocean Engineering, Watershed Studies, Stewardship Projects, and more.
Learn more:
Confluence: Oregon communities respond to climate change
Cover by artist Earl Newman
Climate change: Some people feel overwhelmed by it, others argue about it. Oregon Sea Grant researchers, Extension specialists and communicators, meanwhile are working to better understand what a changing climate is already doing to the ocean and coast – and helping coastal communities better prepare themselves for higher and more damaging waves, stronger storms, rising sea level and other anticipated changes.
The latest issue of OSG’s Confluence magazine examines some of the issues coastal Oregon faces, and ways in which Sea Grant is helping citizens and scientists address them, from anticipating the effects of climate change to building resilience in the face of them – and better understanding how people with different backgrounds and philosophies can even communicate about the topic.
Other articles in this issue include
- Profiles of several Oregon Sea Grant Scholars, and how their student experiences in Sea Grant internships and fellowships helped prepare them for careers in marine science and public policy
- A new app that helps coastal visitors identify critters they find on the beach – and contribute to citizen science by reporting them.
- A study of how juvenile Dungeness crab move through coastal waters as they mature, and an exhibit at the Hatfield Marine Science Center that explains what scientists are learning, and how it might benefit the crab fishery.